McFarland's Uncle: J-Mac Wanted Texas ($)

The highlights, for those of you without subscriptions:
1. J-Mac's uncle says he expressed a desire to go to Texas and would have done so had it not been for his mother.
2. Kashemeyia Adams told the uncle the same story about not being able to reach Mack Brown.
3. John Outlaw says he has never encouraged a player to attend a specific school and that the Longhorn coaches were always completely professional.
4. Both the uncle and Jamarkus considered it a classy move by Texas to take a step back after realizing the recruitment was tearing apart the family.
5. Three sources corroborate the story that McFarland exaggerated the Texas party he attended.
Amazing the things that come to light when reporters do actual reporting. Thayer Evans should be absolutely ashamed of himself, but of course won't be as an OU partisan. By the way, the movement of this whole story towards actual truth has indicated the complete and total inability of many people to think critically about articles of this nature. Yes, I mean you OU fans, and you, Dr. Saturday, and you, Chicago Sun-Times blog. What happened to critical thinking?

over 3 years ago Wescott Eberts (GoBR) 17 comments 0 recs |

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is there still hope?

i was hating him, but if theres a chance i better step back

by acho81 on Dec 30, 2008 12:21 AM CST reply actions

Thayer Evans article = Mike Gundy's "I'm a man!" Speech

Equally damaging to the player, no matter what the original intent was. Bobby Reid is withering away in some non D1 school, and Jamarkus Farland is soon to become the prime target of a lot of unwarranted hatred and vitriol when he steps foot in his home state. Thayer Evans need not write another article for the Times again.

"Stats are for losers, I like winning games."

by SuperBentley on Dec 30, 2008 12:30 AM CST reply actions

Not only does UT not want him, the state of Texas doesn't.

by EYESOFTEJAS on Dec 30, 2008 12:34 AM CST reply actions

Amen

my first born shall be named vy

by hookemkp on Dec 30, 2008 12:52 AM CST reply actions

i really wish people weren’t so critical of a boy who wanted to come to texas, but under great pressure has been coerced into going to a school he does not want to attend.

by Displaced Longhorn on Dec 30, 2008 1:29 AM CST reply actions

Were you there when he made his decision? He could be hiding behind his mothers coat tail.

by EYESOFTEJAS on Dec 30, 2008 1:38 AM CST up reply actions

everything we’ve seen and heard about him indicated he wanted to go to texas, you read his words, his stories, how he’s acted, see his rivals video and none of it indicates any love for OU but everything points to him wanting to go to texas and his mother making his decision for him.

by Displaced Longhorn on Dec 30, 2008 1:43 AM CST up reply actions

Lets say that the facebook page that everyone references is actually his, why the BOOMER SOONER and that he is going to get a degree and get paid? He made his decision on his own and I am sure that his mother wanted him to go to OU for her reasons, but he failed to step up and face his mother. If she was so supportive of her son then why not attend one of his games? If he wanted to go to TX he should have stuck to his guns but he was mentally weak and who knows that could translate to on the field play.

by EYESOFTEJAS on Dec 30, 2008 1:53 AM CST up reply actions

If there was a weakness, I suspect it was emotional

There’s some people who are just hard, if not impossible, to say “no” to. We’ve all had our encounters with those people.

The more rigid those persons beliefs are – whether rational or irrational – the more difficult it is. Especially when it’s a parent. Parental love and authority and youthful independence make for some strange and unresolved situations. The mental weakness may not be on his part; he’s on the conflicted loving end of the equation, where a child’s instinctive love for a parent can get twisted around in gruesome ways.

by whills on Dec 30, 2008 10:43 AM CST up reply actions

Unfortunately

If you tell an OU fan, objectively, how bad the article is, they’ll just insult you and claim that you are being arrogant and obnoxious.

by TheElusiveShadow on Dec 30, 2008 1:53 AM CST reply actions

Not every OU fan.

I’m a Sooner. The article didn’t pass my sniff test from the first time I read it and it’s pretty clear now that Evans had/has an agenda.

Of course, I’m not sure why a good majority of Texas fans are pointing their guns at the Sooners and JMac. Be angry, sure. But be angry at his mother, Evans, or the NYT. I agree with Disp LH in that he’s handled himself pretty well through this whole situation in which he’s being hammered from all sides.

Has there ever been a season in which Texas’ hatred of the Sooners has grown more rapidly? Or been higher? I love it.

by ern on Dec 30, 2008 9:24 AM CST up reply actions

Agree with you on JMac

He comes off as pretty level-headed and he really had very little to do with the accusations made in the article. He wasn’t even the one that gave Evans his school paper. JMac deserves no scorn. He maybe got bullied by his mom into picking OU over Texas, which reports indicate he was leaning towards, but whatever. He chose OU. Good luck to him. The mom and the reporter deserve the vitriol, not the kid.

by billyzane on Dec 30, 2008 10:15 AM CST up reply actions

I'm going to have disagree a little, billyzane

I understand he’s only 17 or 18 and he’s just a kid. However, he’s not five. Heck, even if he was five, he should understand that lying or stretching the truth to smear someone else is wrong, even if it’s done by your mother. If he doesn’t have the fortitude to come out and admit as much clearly, then he fails the belief system that he and his mother claim to have.

That doesn’t mean he’s a terrible kid who has no hope for the future, obviously. It just means in this particular instance, he would justifiably get some criticism. I’m no fan of ripping high school students, but they aren’t little children anymore and should be held accountable for their actions.

by TheElusiveShadow on Dec 30, 2008 1:51 PM CST up reply actions

Good to hear

Not all OU fans are crowing about this. My anger is mostly directed at Thayer Evans, but it’s difficult when so many Sooner fans are using Evans’s article as an indictment of Texas football. I hope McFarland is happy in Norman – he seems like a solid kid – and thanks should go out to Chip Brown for his well-researched work.

I had a dream last night that I played basketball against Thayer Evans and spent the majority of the game hacking him. It was a good dream.

by sportsnight on Dec 30, 2008 12:22 PM CST up reply actions

Of course most of our anger is directed towards them

And I’m glad you’re level-headed about this. However, go to Crimson and Cream Machine and see what I was referring to.

by TheElusiveShadow on Dec 30, 2008 1:17 PM CST up reply actions

TES, I know what you were referring to

Just wanted to clarify that those who post (or argue and tell you to never return to their site) may not always be the best sample set of Sooner fans.

by ern on Dec 30, 2008 1:27 PM CST up reply actions

I think you speak very well and truthfully, for a Sooner. I have no true ill will toward McFarland, and would love it if he were to think better of his decision and elect to sign with Texas. He’s a good kid with a good mind, and his only two mistakes (lying in his paper for school and choosing OU) are both minor enough to be no big deal in the grand scheme of things. I’m just not fond of his mother, at least the version of her presented by Evans, and I don’t like Evans at all.

I have plenty of vitriol for OU, but I don’t think they’re primarily responsible for this debacle. I do think there may have been some malfeasance on their part, but lacking evidence, I can’t get mad about that.

by burntorangehorn on Dec 31, 2008 11:35 AM CST up reply actions